Mrs. Claus here, giving out some last minute presents before heading home!

I'm not sure if I should be devastated for him, or laugh a bit at his reactions. I'm not sure if you know this, but there are actually ravens at the poles. Very adaptable creatures, and they can be quite annoying. Always stealing shiny things from the workshop and such, lucky for us we haven't had quite this morbid of an encounter.

Lily's death, and the memories would be extremely haunting for him. I remember checking in on them from time to time and watching the two as children. She was so sweet, if a bit fiery and at times a little stubborn. Severus adored her, and despite what others think he wasn't always cold. Standoffish, yes, and quite and very seldom let anyone in. Lily always was able to bring out the best in him, and my heart always breaks a little thinking of how different things could have been, and how different he could have been. Their story is such a tragic one, and this particular piece of Poe's you based your interpretations off of is a fitting one.

Sadly, I must be off now, for I have much to do and only a few short hours remaining to me. My "friend" on the forums will be relaying an announcement for me at twelve on the dot, HPFF's GMT time. Merry Christmas in July!

Author's Response: Mrs. Claus! Merry Christmas in July and thank you SO much for stopping by with this amazing review!

Oh no! I'm sorry to hear about the ravens at the pole! But I'm glad there haven't been any ravens quite like this one up there! :P

Yes, those things definitely haunt Severus, and that's actually why he popped into my head with this challenge. He fits SO WELL with Poe! Awww! Hearing your reflections on seeing Lily and Severus together is so sad and bittersweet! *tears up*

Okay I enjoyed this so much overall that I -had- to leave a review so here goes:

I -love- the setting and can visualize our beloved Snape sitting in his house. Your description of the scene was a great way to open it and gives one a sense of something foreboding is coming (dun dun DUNNN!).

The entire exchange between him and the Raven while very serious, tickled me to death, especially when he tried to see if it was a wizard or not and then its' obvious annoyance (at the end I could easily see 'Raven 1 Snape 0').

I loved it and it made me smile. The overall description from setting to establishing him as the wonderful character he is as well as the terrible dilemma he's going through. I felt so bad for him :-(.

The other thing I noted (and personally love) is the choice of words and the vocabulary--you have a very strong grasp of it: you didn't use too many big and fancy words the general populace would know and changed it up very nicely and really made a difference.

As I said, I enjoyed it so much I had to leave a review. Nicely done darlin' and thank you for a wonderful story! :-)

Author's Response: Hi there! Oh, thank you SO much for stopping by and reading and reviewing this!

I'm so glad you were able to visualize the scene - description has always been one of my weak points, so it's great to hear that you think it's good here!

Haha! When I originally wrote this, I didn't intend for it to be funny, but now when I go back and read it, it kind of is! Lol. Yay for unintentional humor! :P

Awww! I'm so glad you loved it! I felt really sorry for Snape while writing it as well. :(

Awww, thank you so much for your comments about word choice and vocabulary, they mean so much!

I cannot believe I found this story. I am a huge Edgar Allen Poe fan and The Raven is one of my favorie of his pieces. I'm really glad Red_headed_juliet had the brilliant idea to create this challenge and that you wrote this incredible one-shot. This truly is a gem. You have a way with words that makes me very jealous to be honest. I can almost see Severus sitting in his study due to your very detailed description and the great choice of words. I think it was really brave to write something based on such an amazing writer's work and I also think you did a beautiful job.

You create an atmosphere not unlike the one in the poem, in which the tiny hair on your back stands on end and the incredible sadness of the situation makes your stomach churn painfully. I am taken aback. Definitely one of my favorite stories on this archive so far!

Author's Response: Aw!

I'm really glad you found the story too, as I got this amazing review from you out of it! ♥

And I. LOVE. Poe. He truly is a GENIUS. I had to memorize the first 5 stanza of 'The Raven' in school, and they've been stuck with me ever since; this is also my favorite of his pieces. I was SO thrilled when I saw the challenge. I was busy, and I was struggling with writer's block at the time, but I KNEW I had to write SOMETHING for it, and there was NO question about which of his works I wanted to base it on!

Aw! *Sobs* Thank you so much! I think description is something that I have always struggled with, and once I realized that, I tried to start correcting it in every piece I have written since, so I'm SO happy that you enjoyed the description, and that you mentioned it in your review, it makes me so happy! There was definitely some pressure to do the story justice, but I am pretty pleased with how it turned out! Thank you SO MUCH for all your compliments!

And :O . I can't even tell you how flattered I am that you think I created an atmosphere like the one in the poem. To have my work compared to that of Poe's is just... Wow. And aw! I'm so flattered that it's one of your favorites!

Hi, I read this one-shot and enjoyed it very much. The vivid descriptions you used in the first half of the story gave it a perfectly ominous Poe-ish feeling. I can't resist a creepy story anyway, and Snape was the perfect character to focus on as well. His home felt gloomy even in the HP books, which was a great setting for this challenge as well. And you did nicely with the relentless black crow that came to disturb him in the night. Thanks for writing this. It was a very enjoyable read.

Author's Response: Thank you so very much for taking the time to read this, and to leave this amazing review!

I'm really glad that you felt this had a Poe-ish feeling, that's what the main focus of this challenge was! And thank you so much for the compliments about the Raven, Snape, and the setting!

Wonderful! You've done a great job creating an emotional piece with a more stoic character. I can't think of anyone who would've fulfilled the role better. Thank you so much for your entry, I'll be posting the results as soon a I can. (My computer is broken so I'm trying to use my kindle)

I enjoyed reading this! I think yo did a wonderful job.

Author's Response: Thank you so much for taking the time to review this, dear, and for creating this amazing challenge.